


Sharks of Neptune

by PeachGO3



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Science Fiction, Angst, Blood and Violence, Canon Disabled Character, First Kiss, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, there had to be a villain and it’s Stryker lol
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-16
Updated: 2020-09-16
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:20:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26495557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PeachGO3/pseuds/PeachGO3
Summary: You’re past being anybody’s saviour, remember? – “Fuck it.”Erik Lehnsherr is an engineer on a two-man whaling spaceship. But, as it turns out, there is a third passenger, one who is connected closely to the whales they’re hunting. Soon Erik must choose a side in a complot that’s even darker than he suspected.For the Cherik Big Bang 2020.Gorgeous artworkis included in the fic!
Relationships: Erik Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier
Kudos: 13
Collections: 2020 Cherik Bang





	Sharks of Neptune

Space was like an endless treasure box, Erik thought as he drank his coffee. It has grown cold by now.

People always called space rich and wondrous, and it was, especially if you went anywhere past Mars. Grand images of stars and colours that invite you in.

But then there was the other side of the coin, the times when space was empty, aseptic, and cold. No stardust clusters, no turquoise nebulae, just – nothing. If you were lucky and got a look at the stars from the bridge, they did not look welcoming and warm, they were terrifying. That’s what Erik felt like most of the time. Before, he’d often been lucky and witnessed only the first face of space. Now he felt as though he was being watched whenever he looked outside a window, so he didn’t. That ‘space magic’ would not return to him in the near future, probably.

He blinked. “Concentrate, idiot.”

His screwdriver clanged against the metallic ground as he picked it up to continue his work. Work as an engineer on a two-man spaceship was no walk in the park, but at least it served as distraction. However, even with work keeping Erik on his toes, there were days when he thought he might be going crazy. And start talking to himself.

Two months in Neptune’s shadow already, and they didn’t find one single damn whale. They’re hard to find, impossible even, some said. Erik would probably sleep better at night if he could be sure they didn’t exist at all, but on the other hand those aliens would solve any energy supply problem humanity had ever faced. So, maybe they were worth the bother.

With quick hands, Erik exchanged the console’s X-drive and threw the burnt-out one away.

He didn’t know exactly how Stryker searched for those whales, or how they would be harnessed, and their power harvested. Teeth clenching, he once again realised how he basically knew nothing of this mission – originally one of the reasons he signed up in the first place. ‘Get away from Earth, do your job, no questions asked’.

But by now, he was wondering what the hell he was doing out here, all alone.

“Lehnsherr?”

Erik lowered the screwdriver and activated his communicator. “Yes?”

“What the hell is taking you so long? I need your help up here, with Cerebro.”

Erik smirked, weary. “Yes, sir,” he said and got up, taking his tools and leaving everything else the way it was. For such a tiny ship, it always took him remarkably long to get from engineering to the bridge. Sometimes he wondered whether that was deliberate. Not that he cared.

He entered his security code at the door and waited for the complicated locking mechanism to open up. “Couldn’t you get here sooner?” was the cold greeting once the thick doors had swished open.

“I’d be here a lot faster you weren’t so paranoid,” Erik replied in an effort to not work himself up.

Stryker just stood still beside the navigation system, which he called ‘Cerebro’. Cerebro was elaborate technology, pretty sci-fi-ish, but Stryker swore by it. Former US Army Colonel. It was probably some old military tech from submarines, at least this was Erik’s theory. The console stood in the middle of the big room that was the Sunseeker’s bridge, in front of the giant screen that showed the outside – empty space. Erik lowered his gaze.

“What do you want me to do?” he asked, putting his dirty toolbox on top of the console, which made Stryker’s wrinkly features harden even further. Erik’s mouth twitched in amusement. He loved to anger that asshole, just for the hell of it. Stryker couldn’t get rid of him, they were in deep space with no Station in close range – so Erik would have to do for the Colonel, whether the two of them liked it or not.

Stryker vaguely explained the problem and then sat down at the helm to type something into the computer system.

Erik got to work.

* * *

Repairing Cerebro, if you could call it that, occurred again the next day. “Wasn’t there a sighting planned for today? I thought sensors had picked something up,” Erik wondered, inspecting the screen. No whale to be seen.

“They had,” Stryker said in a toneless voice. Erik side-eyed him fumbling with the helm’s controls. What was he doing? Erik opened his mouth to question Stryker, who now jumped upwards and directly to the navigation system. “It’s malfunctioning,” he said simply. “Check out the circuits and cable links, the error must be in there somewhere.”

“What? Cerebro?” Erik asked, frowning.

“Yes.”

“How so?”

“Gamma reading are off by point two percent. It’s either a sensor malfunction or cable damage.”

How specific, tse. “One of the two? Right,” Erik snarked with a lingering gaze and walked up to the blue console to open the drive section. Frowning, he took a look at the insides, beeping just fine. “Looks all right to me,” he murmured in even deeper sarcasm. “Just like yesterday. And the day before,” he added under his breath.

“Check the EPS conduit and do a complete read-out, I want a full diagnosis,” Stryker snarled, voice sounding as though he was about to leave. He was tense.

Erik supported himself on the console to stare him down. “You know, Colonel,” he said in a calm tone, “even if I did a complete read-out, I still wouldn’t know what the fuck is wrong with your machine. It’d probably be better if you told me what its actual function was.”

Stryker glared, control lights tinting his face green. “This is why you will send the report to my office, like you always do,” he said, “and I will then see ‘what the fuck is wrong with it’.”

Always the same. Erik looked down. “Yeah?”

“Yeah. ‘cause you’re a fucking engineer. Now get to work.” With these words, Stryker left, and Erik could hear him locking the door behind him. And now – silence, except for the faint control beeps of the helm.

“Yeah, lock me up,” Erik murmured and got down onto his knees to check out the machine’s circuits. Everything was tinted in bright blue light, a contrast to the faint green anywhere else on the ship. Cerebro’s insides looked so different, so sparkly and cleaner than the ones down in engineering that Erik sighed aloud and felt his whole body collapsing.

Despite the calming silence, he felt uneasy. Must be because of the stars.

Maybe he should have enlisted back then? Maybe then he would know what this nonsense was all about, a military secret or something. Maybe then he’d seen one of those whales, or knew what kind of cable port Cerebro had installed, because he had never seen cables like these anywhere else. There was no sonar, no sonic depth finer of any kind, no X-rays, no gamma rays. Rather, Cerebro was cohering in the way that organisms were, like a circulation. How it was supposed to find those space whales was beyond Erik, he didn’t even know where the coordinates were entered into the computer’s navigation system. Every time Stryker called him up here, there was no significant error Erik could find, no grand anomaly, no malfunction. It’s as though a crucial part of the machinery was being hidden away from him.

Again – deliberately, probably. And this time, Erik did care.

This was wrong.

He rubbed his face with cold hands and decided that he’d rather waste Stryker’s time than actually finish ‘work’. Being alone felt fun now instead of devastating, somehow. Anything to distract him.

Swinging his arms, Erik got up, threw the drive section’s plate to the metallic ground and looked around. The bridge was the ship’s biggest room by far, even greater than the whale tank section, with Cerebro’s thick cables extending to the far ceiling, where they disappeared into the main computer. The blue light even reached up there.

For all his annoyance with this machine, Erik thought, out here Cerebro was the closest thing to the ‘space magic’ people on Earth always talked about. Funny.

Finding he was bored by the same old navigation system, Erik walked around it, to the helm. A simple console with a piloting seat like any other spaceship of the Sunseeker’s size. There was even a small navigation console, which was probably the main system before Stryker had bought the ship and Cerebro installed.

When Erik looked up, there was the giant screen, taking up all the space of the bridge’s forefront. Showcasing empty space, even darker than the ship’s insides, and gaping like endless precipices. Erik turned away.

His eyes found the door to the supply chamber hidden in the bridge’s back, a room Erik has never been to – neither in his two months on-board nor before the mission, when he had first inspected the Sunseeker.

He smiled. “You’re next,” he said and walked up to it, entering his security code – and being rejected.

‘Security code not valid,’ the door said.

Erik tried his ID number.

‘Security code not valid.’

Erik tried Stryker’s birthday next, then his son’s, then his dead wife’s, anything he had ascertained in his time onboard. But nothing worked. He stepped back. “Seems like you don’t want me inside,” he murmured, arms crossed, as he eyed the thick door. “Don’t judge me,” he said, now addressing the door itself. “being all alone on here made me talk to himself. I’m not like that, actually.”

Curiously enough, he wasn’t frustrated, he was motivated, and curious to find out what Stryker tried to keep hidden from him. Fetching his toolbox, he sat down beneath the lock mechanism and opened it. “Let’s find your mysteries, hm?” he murmured and unscrewed the panel. Stryker probably had the good alcohol stored in there. Or guns. Or both.

Enjoying his solitude on the bridge, Erik felt his body calming in the familiar mechanic work. Tools in his hands, oil on his skin – this was his safe little world in the empty void. Something relaxing, something to do with his hands. Warm red warning lights rather than that hellish green.

Or heavenly blue.

With a click, the mechanism gave in, making the door open about an inch. “Ha,” Erik made. He opened the door just far enough to fit through the gap, entering the ‘storage room’ – sadly, there wasn’t much stored here. Finding the light controls beside the door, Erik tried illuminating the dark, but it didn’t work. “Must’ve jammed you from outside,” he murmured, and figured he’d had to live with the blue control lights. The same calming, bright, blue light from navigation. Except for a single iron shelf, there wasn’t much to be seen in here.

A bottle of whiskey glistened in the blue shine, and Erik walked up to it with a smile. Scottish. The bottle was heavy in his hands. “There you are,” he whispered.

_There you are._

Breath hitching, Erik whirled around. That hadn’t been an echo. But Stryker wasn’t to be seen. Body tensing with the sudden adrenaline jolt, Erik put the bottle back and leaned against the door to spy.

_No, not there. Over here._

His gaze dropped to the back of the room, and he narrowed his eyes in concentration. Was there a robot of some sort stored in here? Some A.I.? Is that what Stryker was hiding? There were storing spaces integrated into the walls, maybe something was there, somewhere. Carefully, he stepped closer to the back of the room.

_Yes, right. Don’t be afraid, I’m not dangerous._

“That’s what dangerous people say,” Erik mused quietly. He heard a snicker from beneath. Snicker? Slowly, he bent down to look inside the lowest storing space.

Bright blue eyes stared right back at him, shining in the lighting. “Hello,” the voice said softly, and Erik all but fell backwards onto his ass, eyes wide. The man snickered again, fingers playing in front of pouty lips.

Erik shook his head. “What the hell,” he murmured and crawled closer. There was a man in the storage room, in a two-man spaceship at Neptune. Lying in an iron rack all curled-up like a baby, in a uniform that Erik had never seen before. His eyes roamed the small body in what felt close to panic, his heart was racing. His first instinct was protective, and that it must be really fucking cold lying here, but what came out of his mouth was: “Who are you? Are you his son?”

“No,” the man said and smiled at Erik with shining eyes. “I’m not.”

Erik searched for words. He felt oddly calm, despite _needing_ to panic. He even felt _joy_. He wasn’t alone on this goddamned ship. “Then who are you? What are you doing here? Why is he hiding you?” he uttered, unable to look away, even though it felt almost obscene to sit on the ground staring like that.

“I’m Charles,” the man said, and Erik weirdly felt like he knew his name before. “I’m glad to finally meet you,” Charles added, big eyes filling with tears.

“Hey, whoah,” Erik murmured and instinctively extended a hand to soothe him – what was he crying about? “Hey,” Erik repeated softly, “hey, look at me.”

“Sorry,” the man smiled and sniffed. Dark strands of hair were falling into his face, and Erik almost reached out to rearrange them. Or dry the tears off his cheeks. But he held himself back.

“It’s just… _you’re here_. You’re the one with the beautiful soul.”

Erik squinted his eyes, now he understood nothing. “What?”

The man smiled at him as though he had known Erik for years. There was something in his blue eyes that shone with gratefulness, and the blue light around them intensified their colours, as though one was staring right into the sunlight ocean.

“You’re here now, with me. I have been looking forward to this for so long,” he said softly, eyes still teary. “How are you?”

Erik laughed quietly, although he felt terribly inappropriate in doing so. When was the last time someone had asked him that? To answer was almost overchallenging. “I’m fine, mostly,” Erik smiled, eyes locked. Then he noticed a bruise in the man’s face, covered by the tousled hair, and frowned. “How about you? What is going on here? You’re hurt…”

_He doesn’t know you’re here._

There was the voice again, and Erik now knew that it belonged to this Charles. Suddenly, concern was written across the man’s soft features. He extended two fingers to his left temple. “He mustn’t know, Erik. You have to go, _now_ ,” he whispered.

Erik faltered, freezing. He had not moved his mouth earlier, had he?

_I can’t hold him off, I’m too weak. Please, leave._

Ere he could cling to yet another thought of procrastination, Erik got up and walked up to the door with fast steps, assertive, pulled it close and took the toolbox in his hands, which was exactly when the main doors opened and Stryker entered the bridge.

“Lehnsherr!” he began, and his gaze dropped to the door, eyes narrowing in suspicion. “You went in there?” he inquired, voice more like a snarl than a question.

“No,” Erik answered plainly, out of instinct, and Lord, he just remembered he’s the worst liar in this solar system.

Stryker looked past him once again, then eyed the toolbox, then asked: “And Cerebro?”

“Repaired it. I’m going to send the report to your office as asked.”

“Hm.” Stryker turned away to look at Cerebro. It was strange to see him so reticent, especially after being lied to – but the answer was, “All right. Dismissed.”

Initially Erik wanted to argue that he wasn’t a soldier and that he resented this military speak, but he just excused himself and left. No way that Stryker had bought that lie.

_He did, don’t worry… Good job, Erik._

Erik’s head snapped back as that faint voice touched his mind once again. Because this wasn’t that guy _speaking_ , it was telepathy of some sort, or some other crazy shit. Entering the ship’s dark corridor, Erik shuddered. He hadn’t told him his name, and yet… At least now he knew what Stryker was hiding.

Or rather, who.

Although he felt victorious for a fleeting moment, Erik needed to get away from that bridge as fast as possible. He was so creeped out his feet were practically flying. Something was very rotten in here.

* * *

Days are dark in this place, and Charles isn’t even sure they are ‘days’ anymore, because he has lost all sense of time and space. The sedative numbs his mind. It weakens him, and it’s cold. Charles yearns to touch people’s minds, to reach out and feel them, but except for the Colonel there is no one here – which changes today.

Who is that? Charles wonders. Someone has come onboard at Oceanus Alpha, the last space station before Neptune. He cannot feel much regarding this person because it would require too much power, but he is happy to find that, actually, he doesn’t have to do much, because that person _beams_.

It’s strength, and willpower, and a deeply, well packed away rage shining through the layers of the ship. Rage that displays a great deal of emotions that run even deeper, because rage is always born out of fear. Or at least uncertainty. What is that person afraid of? Why are they still so brave and vibrant?

Who _is_ that?

Charles smiles as though he’s looking at a rusty antique, shining through red corrosion. He is instantly drawn to this light that wanders around the ship. Through engineering, corridors, tubes, and sometimes on the bridge. The light outshines everything, tinting the environment and Charles’ mind alike whenever he concentrates on it.

He likes to concentrate on it. Focus. The light behaves bit clumsy at times, which amuses Charles, and even makes him laugh out loud sometimes. It adds a little sweetness to all that corrosion at the back of his throat.

The light also shines like a star, but a star who’s unaware of its own beauty, and this tragic makes it even more dazzling.

“You’re so beautiful,” Charles breathes. It’s comforting him.

And at the same time, he feels horrible about this. That person is in great pain, and prone to channelling their rage into violence against others and themselves. It’s sad, and dangerous, and yet Charles can’t stop dreaming about them _together_. What would that person be like? Would they like Charles?

Charles hoped they would like him.

These are the questions Charles asks himself in the time after the new light has boarded the ship, but soon he can catch glimpses at that shining source: His name is Erik. Erik Lehnsherr, an engineer with a knack for melodramatics. But Charles likes that, and he likes Erik as a whole. And he figures that what the Colonel does to him is a secret to Erik, because the rage stays unchanged. Surely, if he liked Charles and knew about his pain, he would feel indignant about it.

The sedatives, the cables, the whaling – Charles’ whole body is screaming as his mind is being stretched out violently, out into the darkness of space, where it freezes painfully. Once in a while it touches other souls, those whales that the Colonel and the other humans are after.

Charles knows what they want to do with those poor creatures swimming through space in peace, minding their own business – humans want their energy. Want to exploit them, _kill them_ – the Colonel’s mind leaves no doubt about that.

Screaming and sweating, with his heart beating out of his chest, Charles scares them away. _Leave! Now! You have to flee, you are in danger!_

Until now, the whales had understood, even though Charles’ pained mind must have scarred their souls in its screaming. Better scarred than killed, Charles thinks and collapses. Every time, he collapses, and then is stored away so that Erik can visit the bridge and collect data from the cable system, because the Colonel thinks the machine is malfunctioning.

It’s not the machine.

And today, after he has finally met his Erik in person, able to talk eye to eye to him and experience his raging, broken, ocean-like nature firsthand, Charles makes a terrible mistake. When Erik leaves, the Colonel takes him to Cerebro again, but instead of _dreading_ , Charles is _dreaming_ , reaching out to Erik to caress his troubled mind through the ship’s countless layers of metal – and his gaze lingers on that door a second too long.

 _Lehnsherr_ , the Colonel thinks, and Charles tries to stop his train of thought, but it’s too late – “You watched him, didn’t you?” _You’re perverted like that, you monster, probably swooning over his dirty hands on the panels with your telepathy –_

“No,” Charles breathes, tears filling up his eyes because of what is to happen and that he will not be able to prevent it this time.

The Colonel’s eyes narrow as his thoughts focus – _he cares for Lehnsherr, and he cares for the fucking aliens, it’s been his fault all along, it’s not the machine –_

“No, please,” Charles utters, desperately trying to balance Cerebro and presence, but the Colonel takes him by his clothes, yanking him, mind dripping with violence – “You mess up again, you little freak, and Lehnsherr will pay for it, you hear me? I should have known… Fucking obey, you freak. Don’t forget that.”

Charles won’t forget. He’s terrorised, shaking even after being disconnected from Cerebro – mind all numb, he can’t tell if the Colonel has been lying after all – because he _needs_ Erik to run this ship, doesn’t he?

But what if he doesn’t? What if Charles saving the whales would in turn kill Erik? Not knowing what to do, Charles collapses in his chamber, helpless and unable to read anyone. But he _needs_ to. He yearns for the sweetness. Trembling, he tries reaching out for Erik, with a stinging pain in his head holding him back. Shuddering.

He embraces himself and presses his face into the cold metal. Realising that as long as he’s this weak, he won’t reach the light, won’t reach Erik who gave shape to Charles’ feelings. It stays dark in here.

Time passes, and somewhen the Colonel enters the chamber. “I didn’t mean it, son,” he says, and Charles is almost sure it’s a lie, but he can’t be safe for sure. He searches the Colonel’s eyes and mind alike as the man walks him to Cerebro.

“Find those whales for me, son, all right? Without the harpoon. I’m sorry.”

He’s not sorry, Charles thinks, _he is not_. But as long as he can’t be sure, he should give the Colonel the benefit of doubt. Maybe he did finally change, Charles thinks as he’s connected to the vastness of space once again, sucked out into the cold.

* * *

It was not right. “Something on this ship is very fucking wrong,” Erik dictated into his log. It wasn’t a nebulous inkling of his anymore, no, now there’s a man locked away on the bridge. A telepath of some sort.

Which begged the question – was Charles human at all?

Erik closed his eyes in frustration, teeth clenching. He should confront Stryker about this, right now. But Charles was clearly hurt, and some part of Erik feared that he would cause more hurt by outright addressing all the shit he’s been bottling up, now with a potential threat of violence against another being.

Another thought kept piercing Erik’s mind. The ship may not be that big, but what if there were others like Charles? And what the hell did Stryker need telepaths for? For whaling?

Erik’s stomach turned. Was _this_ what space was truly like?

With a scream of frustration, he threw his screwdriver against the wall. Everything on the ship was pure trouble now, even though Erik left Earth _precisely_ because he wanted to avoid trouble, and now – _this_!

And that stored-away man… It was none of Erik’s business, he told himself. He desperately wanted to stay out of this.

But Charles couldn’t be left like this, right? In all probability, there was a terrible injustice going on here. It was horrible, knowing that in any other situation, Erik would’ve probably hit on that guy and get lost in his blue eyes. Now, it just got him terrible pangs of conscience, and probably more crime – because that was what Stryker was using Charles for, Erik thought.

He couldn’t shake off the feeling that Charles was being used for that whaling nonsense, misused even. Abused? Yeah, locked away in a storage room, with Stryker making sure that Erik doesn’t know. Being hurt by his abuser, out here, in the coldest area of deep space.

“Enough!” In one attempt to finally ground himself, Erik breathed in deeply. He needed to focus. If he wanted to avoid this vague kind of weltschmerz, he needed actions, not thoughts. “You have questions,” he told himself, walking to get the screwdriver he had thrown across Engineering. “You have questions,” he repeated, “and you know where to get the answers.”

_This is why you will send the report to my office, like you always do._

Pondering, Erik rolled the tool between his fingers. _Cerebro_.

Time to get inventive.

He had never been that good with computers, but at their core, they were machines just as the engines he worked on nowadays. And remote controlling the computer in Stryker’s office from Engineering should not be too difficult.

If answers were to be found on this hellship at all, they’d be in that damned computer.

Getting comfortable in the red light, Erik sat down to let his interface calculate possible passwords or firewalls. It took him some time to figure everything out.

* * *

_Flee, please! Now! It’s not safe here! Flee…!_

* * *

The shrill cry of the boarding alert sent Erik back to his feet. They caught something. Shouldn’t he be informed before they use the tractor beam to get it inside the tank section?

By now, he wasn’t surprised about the secret games anymore.

With the time Erik needed to head for the ship’s tank section, things sank in. His back straightened with realisation about what he had just found on Stryker’s computer, and what that Jean Grey must have been like. Was she like Charles? And what about that ‘Wolverine’? Erik would never know who they had been. The only valid information he had was that they were deviants with special abilities, like Charles, and that they had died in the experiments Stryker had carried out on them.

Surely Charles would someday suffer the same fate, and Cerebro was the fucking key to all of this, that much was sure.

The doors of the tank section opened, and before Erik could observe anything inside, he was hit with a sickening smell that made him look down in pain. With a hand covering his face, he reached the control panel, beeping frantically to inform him that there was new cargo onboard.

It showed him the video signal from inside the containment section – a giant grey creature lying on its side, motionless. What looked like complicated vines at first sight were fins, and Erik noticed a dark blue liquid dripping down from them.

His mouth opened. “Oh, no way.”

That really was one of the aliens. Inside the container, _that_ was one of those whales. Prying his eyes lose from the video signal, Erik entered codes to show him the status of the captured alien, but sensors didn’t pick up anything. Maybe the animal’s metabolism was too complicated for the system?

Erik looked up again. And when his gaze found the blue liquid this time, he realised that it was blood, fading out of the body.

Everything was calibrated perfectly – it didn’t make any sense that it died, Erik thought, immediately bargaining the thought of indirectly being responsible for its death. If he hadn’t been occupied with the computer, would he have –

“Oh, fuck, don’t start,” Erik cursed himself, rubbing his eyes. “Don’t you start _again_.” He was enraged by his own train of thought, but suddenly felt so tired that he was not able to act on that anger.

Stop bringing yourself into this. Forget the whale, forget Charles. It’s not you. You’re way past being anybody’s saviour.

There is nothing for you to do here except your job.

You’re an engineer. Do. Your. Job.

With dead eyes, Erik kept staring at the body. Pretty anticlimactic for his personal first contact, wasn’t it? So cold out here. Three billion miles away from Earth, and that’s what you find – death.

The communicator pulled him out of his thoughts a few moments later: “Lehnsherr?”

Erik moved slowly to answer. “Yes?”

“Come up here.”

Erik faltered. Was that background noise? Was Charles with him? “Understood,” Erik answered, leaving the whale. His body tensed up as he got ready to leave the room, but as soon as the metal doors opened, a voice reached into Erik’s mind. First like an echo, then clearer with every passing second.

It was a screaming voice. “Charles,” Erik whispered, feet flying to get to the bridge.

You’re past being anybody’s saviour, remember? – “Fuck it.”

Somewhere along the line, Charles’ voice had faded away, although Erik was sure he could still hear a faint whimper in the back of his head. He even tasted something bitter at the back of his throat that sure as hell did not belong there.

The bridge’s doors swished open, and there they were, Stryker at Cerebro’s control panel, and Charles by his feet, in the same embryo position that Erik had found him back in the storage room.

“What the hell happened here?” was all Erik got out before stumbling forward to help Charles to his feet.

_You’re here…_

Erik pulled the small body upwards, always feeling Stryker’s steel eyes on him as he did so. Charles looked up at him with weary features and a bruised face.

“You hit him,” Erik realised and looked up. Stryker’s nostrils were heaving up and down. “So, you _do_ know each other?” he snarled.

“Yes,” Erik said firmly, and that word echoed in his head, spoken by a different voice. Glaring at Stryker from the icy ground, he pressed Charles’ body closer to his. The blue light looked perverted on the Colonel’s face.

“There’s a dead whale in the tank,” Erik said slowly, and Charles whimpered against his shoulder. _Dead?_

Without knowing what he was doing, Erik started rubbing a comforting thumb over the small back beneath his hands, possessive of who is was holding. He still fixated Stryker, who slammed his fist against Cerebro. “We had to use the harpoon to get it… It would have taken the bait if _he_ wouldn’t have warned them _again_! Now it’s only worth a fraction of the original price.”

_My fault, it’s my fault, it’s –_

Erik took a deep breath and got up, with Charles still pressed to his chest in his arms. How foolish to come in here without any weapon. “You hurt him. Get out,” he said calmly. But Stryker’s features distorted at the commanding tone: “What?”

“I said get out,” Erik repeated. “You can go now, with your own will, or have him” – he looked down onto Charles’ dark hair – “tell you to. Your choice.”

He now knew that that was what Charles could do, make people think things, or even make them do it without them realising. That’s what had happened when he had told Erik to leave the storage room.

Slowly, Stryker left the console, eyes always on Erik’s. “Right.” He made his way to the doors without breaking eye contact. Eyes wide, steps short. He seemed scared, albeit not yet convinced that Charles could be of any true danger.

“Know what you get yourself into, Lehnsherr.”

Ha, how ironic. “Haven’t done it when I came aboard this ship, not gonna start now,” Erik replied, watching the doors close behind Stryker, finally. He instantly got down to his knees again, with Charles’ head cradled in a hopefully comfortable position. He still looked pained, and now faint cries were reaching Erik’s ears, like a tinnitus.

It changed slightly when Charles’ eyes met Erik’s. “You’re back,” he said, pained face softening with hope.

The words echoed. _You’re here, Erik, you came back…_

“Yeah, I came back,” Erik answered, unsure how to behave. What should he do? “He hit you, didn’t he?” he asked, hands stroking Charles’ head and neck, only to pause at a cold metallic feeling in his nape.

Cable ports?

_That’s where he plugs me in._

Erik tensed up – there were literal flashes of images burning behind his opened eyes.

 _You were right_ , Charles told him, eyes still gazing up, all blue. _He plugs me into the system, so that I can search for the whales and lure them in._

Erik felt his hands fill up with rage, and Charles must have noticed instantly, because he slightly ducked his head, fear written across his face. “I’m sorry,” Erik uttered. Could he feel all of that?

_Yes, I can._

Erik’s mouthed opened in… what, embarrassment? “I’m sorry,” he repeated.

“Don’t worry,” Charles said, relaxing slightly. It echoed again – but was it really an echo? _Don’t worry, I’ll be fine…_

This telepathic communication felt eery. Like talking to a person but being answered by a communicator, one that could constantly hear you. Charles chuckled at that thought, but then his eyes filled up with shining tears as he sent another thought to Erik: _It’s dead?_

Erik sighed, wanting to hold this small body tight, to warm and comfort it. _Yes._ “I saw it,” he answered.

Charles looked up at the ceiling, mouth opening and closing.

“It’s not your fault,” Erik said, grabbing him tightly. “You heard Stryker, it was the harpoon.”

 _He wouldn’t have used it if I could have kept quiet for once_ , Charles pressed out.

“Then he still would’ve captured it.”

_But it would still be alive._

“And then?”

“And then I could have saved it!” Charles called, rising up to meet Erik eye to eye. They were sitting on the cold ground, but for a solid moment Erik forget everything around him.

Blue eyes, shining in blue light, red lips, dark hair that’s slightly curled, only begging to be played with – Charles noticed Erik’s thoughts and blinked.

“You wanted to help them,” Erik said softly, “but you also have to take care of yourself.”

Charles backed away a little, and Erik knew he was onto something here. “Look at you,” he said, “you’re so much weaker than last time. Him, and that machine, they’re draining you. He _hit_ you.”

 _Not too much, because he still needs me_ , Charles argued.

“Yeah,” Erik shrugged, _but you don’t need him._ It felt weird, but apparently Charles could understand him, because his eyes met Erik’s again. _You’ve read the files. About the others._

 _I did._ Erik reached out to touch Charles in a way that he hoped was comforting and calming.

_Then you know I’m the last one aboard. I wasn’t able to save them either._

“I know that Stryker will do the same to you if you don’t stand up to him,” Erik argued, adding, _I worry about you_. Meaning every word. In fear of being too clumsy at communicating it telepathically, he added, aloud, “You’re stronger than him, Charles. Don’t let yourself be mistreated like this.” He paused. “How many of you are there?”

“I don’t know,” Charles replied, swallowing. _Less than one percent of the system’s population._

“So, you _are_ human?”

“Yes.”

“But that means there are others Stryker might get his hands on,” Erik said.

Charles looked down, face hardening as he stared at the floor. “I can bring peace to this conflict, Erik.”

“You can’t,” Erik groaned. Slowly but surely, he remembered why he didn’t want to be inside all of this. “They’re going to search for whales anyway, with or without you.”

“That’s not true. If I only try a little bit harder-”

“Cut it,” Erik murmured, getting up in one swift motion. “I’m not going to sit and watch this any longer. I’m sick of it, quite frankly. Of heroics and aliens and all that,” he said. “I’ll confine Stryker to his office once he’s entered the coordinates, and bring this ship about, so that this whole shitshow will come to its end.”

Charles fixated him. “You can do that.” It sounded like a question.

Erik moved his jaw sideways. “Manoeuvring is no problem for me. I can pilot this thing. Without that monster of a navigational system, by the way.”

_What about the Colonel?_

Eric mock-frowned as a foolish attempt to deceive a literal mind-reader. “Stryker – how hard can it be? We’re two, he’s alone, and now he won’t hurt you anymore. All we need is his fingerprint. You could easily keep him in his quarters, couldn’t you?”

Charles smiled to the floor. _I know you’re bluffing, but I feel that your confidence in me is true. It’s flattering._

The honesty painted a small smile on Erik’s face. _Can’t help but think it_ , he answered.

“However,” Charles continued aloud, “he keeps me sedated, and has for a long time.” His smile dies. “I’m not that strong anymore. If the doors are closed, my thoughts won’t reach him, they’re blocked.”

“Then I’ll just make him stay behind that door without telepathy.”

“Erik-”

“This will end here and now, you do hear me?”

_Erik._

With a deep inhale, Erik turned back around to look at Charles, sitting on the cold blue floor. His eyes shone like that of a deer in the headlights. And Erik softened, yet again. It was becoming a habit. “Hey,” he said, offering a hand to help Charles up, “we’ll get through this. You and I, okay?”

Charles nodded, but his legs broke away. _My room_ , he said, leaning back against Cerebro. “There’s a wheelchair there. The one I used to get onboard. I can’t walk anymore.”

“Was that Stryker, too?”

Charles did not answer that.

Wordlessly, Erik went to get the wheelchair. It was stored away carefully in the opposite corner of where he had first found Charles. He opened it up quickly and helped Charles sit down on the scratchy seat. The thing wasn’t even automated, so Charles couldn’t go on his own. The rack tottered beneath Erik’s hands when he moved it towards the door.

_I’m gonna build you a real one once we’re gone from here. Not that I mind pushing you._

It pulled a genuine chuckle from Charles, who gladly let himself get pushed by Erik. Erik on the other hand felt a certain domesticity flow through him as they went through the corridor. He didn’t mind. In fact, he felt the most natural since months.

In front of Stryker’s office door, he asked Charles to stay behind him.

“Stop this mission,” Erik said. “I got _all_ the dirt.” He clenched his jaw. “I know everything, what you did to Charles and the others like him. It’s upsetting me, you know?”

“Are you threatening me?” Stryker asked with a disbelieving laugh.

Erik opened his arms in casual gesture. “You don’t want me to get _really_ upset, believe me.”

“Right,” Stryker snarled, and Erik drilled more holes into his face, not letting go. He wouldn’t let this asshole look away when he was speaking. “Turn the ship around,” he growled.

“And then?”

“You’ll stay in your room. And once we’re out of the subspace interference, we’ll contact a Star Station, and you’ll answer to the authorities’ questions. I’m sure they’ll be interested.”

“The authorities,” Stryker repeated with a laugh. He moved around his desk like a cat. “Let’s assume I’ll let you have my fingerprint – which you will definitely need to make this girl go anywhere – do you have any idea what ‘the authorities’ will do with your little friend when I tell them about him?”

Erik tensed. He could hear Charles sharp inhale behind him, over the doorstep, and he could taste his sudden burst of bitter fear in the back of his throat. He wondered if Stryker could feel it, too. “I’ll have time to think about that once we are that far,” he said, trying to stay calm. “For now, I want you to turn the ship around, use your fingerprint to enable us to go to Oceanus Alpha Station, and stay the hell away from Charles.”

Stryker smirked. “Sure, Lehnsherr.”

_It’s not working, Erik._

_I know, I know, I know,_ Erik tried to send back. It would be stupid to think that Stryker had no gun in his desk. They were in danger because Erik – yet again – brought no weapon himself. He only had Charles.

 _Make him_ , he sent, saying the words over and over in his head. _Make him go to the bridge and put his finger onto the pad._

“Y’know, I’ve always taken a weird interest in you,” Stryker continued, hands on the desk as he eyed Erik. “But you can’t expect me to take orders from you.”

“In case you forgot,” Erik replied, “it’s no order. It is a threat.” _Make him, Charles._

“Ah, yes,” Stryker said.

_You can do it. You’re strong like that, I know it._

_I’m trying, Erik._ Charles’ voice sounded desperate inside his head. _I’m trying to get inside his mind undetected._ Erik wanted to cough up the bitterness of his thoughts but swallowed it down to not make Stryker notice what was going on. Telepathic communication made his adrenalin levels rise up like a hull breach.

It was as though, with each exchanged thought, there was a tie fastening between them. A bond growing stronger with each new strand.

“I remember you mentioning your disappointment in what I did,” Stryker smirked. “But you know how much money I’m gonna lose when I abort this mission, right? Imagine how many people we could help if we could use the energy of those aliens.”

_I’m trying._

“The whales?” Erik asked. _Go on._

Stryker hummed. “But hey – I guess it can’t be helped.” He shrugged and, albeit carefully, walked toward the door. Erik exhaled. “Good,” he said aloud. “Hands where I can see them.”

Stryker raised his hands. Above his shoulder, Erik gave Charles, who sat uptight in his wheelchair, a relieved look. _You did it. You’re doing wonderful._

At that, a brief sweetness shot through the bitterness of the strained, fragile bond between them. Charles’ eyes sparkled. But now that Stryker was in-between them, he looked terrified. The bond darkened with fear.

“Hello, son,” Stryker said.

_Charles –_

_I’m slipping, Erik._

Erik only had milliseconds to react, it was all so fast. Stryker’s elbow came up into his face, and he stumbled backwards, eyes shut and yet seeing Charles in his wheelchair.

When he opened his eyes, a gun was pointed at him. Carefully, Stryker moved backwards, toward a safe in the cabinet behind his desk. The gun’s barrel glistened in the green light.

“You fuckers,” Stryker said and laughed.

Erik stood frozen solid, chest heaving. He felt like he should move in front of Charles to guard him.

“You fuckers,” Stryker repeated, less humorous this time. His fingers worked the safe’s lock without him looking away from Erik.

“That was the last time you tried to pull that telepathic shit on me, freak.”

Erik glanced sideways to find Charles looking at him teary-eyed. _I’m sorry_ , he pressed out as though he was looking for something to hold onto. The bond strengthened as he apologised anew.

 _It’s all right_ , Erik sent back. _It’s going to be fine._

Stryker opened the safe to take a helmet out of it, gun still pointed toward Erik. “No, I’m not gonna let you pull that shit on me again. Take a deep breath, and then go to the bridge with me.”

“And then what?” Erik spat out. “Will you kill him, like you killed the others once you were done with them?”

 _Erik_ – Charles’ voice rang with alarm. _I can’t read him anymore. Once he put that helmet on, he was gone. I can’t get inside his mind!_

“Oh,” Stryker went, stepping closer to Erik. “Once I’m done with him, there are special plans. But not for you, Lehnsherr,” he purred. “You’re even worth less than the freak, and just I’m gonna let you die in the dirt. Yeah, just like that. Because you’re nothing more than useless scum.”

It wasn’t the first time Erik had heard that. There was, surprisingly, nothing new in what Stryker had just told him. Usually, Erik would’ve just carried on normally, maybe he even would have obeyed to the order – if it hadn’t been for that softness that reached out for him.

A treacly heat boiled up in his chest, a feeling of comfort and belonging.

The warm strands of telepathy that connected him to Charles chased away the freezing that had kept Erik’s legs in place. Within a matter of milliseconds, he pulled the gun that was pointed to his face into his own hands, finger on the trigger, and sent a bullet right into Stryker’s left knee.

Stryker cried out and sank down, and ere he could articulate his protest, Erik pulled off his helmet to give him a good hard knock with the gun’s handle.

Exhaling wearily, Stryker collapsed like a sack of meat.

Erik shook his head as he unceremoniously let the helmet fall onto the metallic ground. He briefly considered doing the same with the gun but decided to keep it in his waistband. How many telepaths had Stryker terrorised with that helmet?

Bond shaking slightly, Charles looked at him with wide eyes.

“I don’t like violence either,” Erik said. He wasn’t exactly sure if that was the truth. But at least they were safe for now, that’s what his mind told him, although his body was still on the alert. Tense.

“C’mon,” Erik said and pulled Stryker over his shoulder. “We need to get his fingerprint onto the pad to get going.”

With that, he walked around Charles to push the wheelchair away from the office.

* * *

Once the course back to Oceanus Alpha had been laid in, Erik locked Stryker’s groaning body into the same dark chamber he had originally found Charles in. The military pants were soaked with blood from the knee, and Erik was almost shocked by how cold he felt about that wound.

For all he cared, that guy could bleed to death. Just what he deserved.

With satisfaction, Erik shut the metallic door behind him and breathed in deeply. Taking in the bridge’s blue lights as the stars went by outside.

They were on their way to safety.

Charles, slouching comfortably on the piloting seat, looked over his shoulder and smiled at Erik as he came closer. His dark hair flowed around his neck like water. Then he turned his head to watch the blue light to their left. Neptune.

“You were very brave,” Erik said.

Charles shifted without taking his eyes off of Neptune. “Let’s not talk about that, shall we? We did what we had to do.”

Erik nodded. He, too, did not want to talk about Stryker anymore. He sighed. “I almost forgot how beautiful it could be,” he said, leaning against the seat as he took in the view of the blue planet. Then his gaze dropped to Charles. He was barefoot now, toes moving slowly on the seat as he pulled his legs closer. He was so much calmer than just a few minutes ago, no faint voices, no terror – Erik softened.

“You are very beautiful too, Charles.”

Charles looked up at him, eyes shining in the pale blue light. “Wow. How cheesy. But thanks,” he smiled. _Except for the cable ports, maybe. Not quite the aesthetic._

“I’ll have them removed once we reach a Star Station. If you want to,” Erik offered. When Charles did not answer, he walked around the seat to sit down on the floor in front of it.

Charles shifted as he gazed into the middle-distance, and Erik watched him. “You know, whenever he plugged me into Cerebro, and my mind stretched out and got in touch with them – I felt their power.” _The whales. They have great, burning, deeply emotional energy, Erik, that humans like Stryker want to steal and exploit._ Feelings of guilt tinted the bond’s strands with burning shame.

“It was killed by a harpoon,” Erik said calmly. _Not by you_ , he added, trying to sound intimate. He really wanted to change the topic, but also feared invalidating Charles’ abuse.

“Maybe,” he argued, “it’s all less than those clowns on Earth make it out to be. If they can get killed by a harpoon, how powerful are they really?”

“That’s not the point,” Charles said sharply. “However, it does sound strange, doesn’t it? How the mighty have fallen, like that.”

“I’d call it ironic,” Erik shrugged.

“No,” Charles said, shaking his head. “I mean, I understand your point. It’s almost unbelievable a creature like that could get killed by a piece of metal.” He smiled bitterly as he closed his eyes. _Ahh, forget it. I’m probably just bargaining my guilt in all of this._

“It’s not your fault, Charles,” Erik said. “If I’m honest, fragile fish aliens that humans desperately want to exploit sound like the most ‘space’ thing I’ve encountered so far.” He looked down. “We might… wanna get rid of the body in the tank.”

_The dead one._

“Yes.”

Charles looked away as the last horizon of Neptune flew past them. And then he watched Erik watch him. It was kind of shameless, but then again, it had been a long day. To be completely honest, Erik could eat him alive, and the bond heated up.

At that, Charles cleared his throat and straightened up clumsily in the seat. “Do you have family back on Earth?” he asked, rather awkwardly so.

Erik smiled. “Not anymore.” He shifted on the ground. “But I won’t get back to Earth anyway in the near future, I think.”

“What do you plan on doing when you’re gone from here?”

Erik paused. “I’m not sure. But you’re a mindreader, you knew that already – stop asking me questions,” he added with a smirk. Charles smiled back at him. “You’re right. I’m sorry.” He shifted, and something in-between them moved. “But don’t think you’re like an open book or something like that to me.” _You’re indefinite, Erik Lehnsherr._

Erik smiled in disbelieve. ‘You’re loved’ and ‘you’re indefinite’ – what was Charles’ game here? He was cute enough to make out with, sure. Erik sent that thought to Charles, like a shameless promise, and got up from the ground. With a hand on the seat’s large backrest, he said, “Try and get some rest. I will take care of the tank.” Before parting, he pressed a kiss to Charles hair.

_Erik._

Erik turned around, watching Charles against the backdrop of the cosmos. _I wanted to tell you that… you are beautiful as well. External_ – he smiled – _and internal. Something inside of you has changed, and it’s beginning to take shape._

Erik raised his eyebrows as he took in the words. They sank deeply into his mind, like a crystal dropping to the bottom of the ocean.

“Thank you,” he said, and, with increasingly heavy steps, left for the tank section of the Sunseeker.

All that talk about being guilty of the death of the whale got onto his nerves. He liked Charles, and that’s precisely why he did not want the man to guilt trip himself. It wasn’t Charles’ fault, and it wasn’t Erik’s either. They were not the villains in this complot. If anything, they were the victims, but Erik would not let himself be victimised anymore. Or Charles.

Just as he wanted to slide down the latter that led into the tank section, he was pulled back up. Not literally, but something tucked at him. The strands of bonding. It was Charles, right? But it felt muffled.

‘If the doors are closed, my thoughts won’t reach him,’ Erik remembered.

“Shit.”

With flying feet, he ran back towards the bridge, through the green maze that was the S.S. Sunseeker. With each step, the pulling in his bond grew stronger and more defined, getting tinted with the bitter taste of panic that Erik was eerily familiar with by now.

Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck – he never should’ve left him alone.

_…rik! Erik!_

Erik called Charles’ name once the bridge’s doors were open. Charles was crawling toward him, gasping hard with his hands all sweaty – Stryker tried climbing out of the half-opened door, grunting, screaming.

Of course – Erik cursed himself. He had disabled the emergency system when he had first tried to get in there.

“I’m here,” he said, coming down beside Charles to comfort him briefly. The touch made telepathic images shoot through his mind – _Erik, please, please, I’m scared, I’m so scared_ – and the bitter taste in the back of his throat almost made him vomit.

Stryker’s bloody arm was already out of the door.

Tensing up, Erik leaned forward, ready to storm at him, but Charles’ whimpering cries held him back. _Don’t go, please…!_

“I must,” Erik pressed out, getting up. Charles fell onto the floor trying to reach his legs and got a hold of his trouser. _Don’t go, please, don’t leave me alone, Erik!_

“I need to get to Stryker, Charles!” I need to go there, Erik said to himself, I need to finally take care of him, so that we have control of the ship, so that we have control of ourselves. Our lives.

Stryker screamed as he made his way out of the chamber, door peeling open like a stone rolling from a grave.

Suddenly, another cold sensation shot through Erik, but this time it was physical. It made the hair in his neck stand – metal against skin. The gun, idiot. Erik didn’t hesitate.

_Erik, no, please –_

He pulled it from his waistband, pointing to Stryker, but Charles tore him down to the cold floor. Weary hand grasping Erik’s clothes, breath ragged and voice whimpering. “Erik, don’t… I’m begging you…”

Erik breathed in deeply. He pointed the barrel toward Stryker, who still managed to make his way out of the chamber. Even from the ground, Erik could aim and hit. He could do this, despite the desperate telepathic bond pulling at his every nerve.

_Don’t do this._

Stay in control. You’re out in the cold nowhere of this world, you have to regain control. Ignore the bitterness and the fear. Pull the trigger. Regain control.

_Don’t, Erik… don’t…_

As Charles sobbed into his clothes, weak and scared, Erik sighed internally. The things he did.

In a single swift motion, he got up, put the gun away, and took Charles in his arms to run. Behind them, Stryker screamed into the empty blue bridge, muffled as the main door closed somewhere behind them.

They had to reach the escape pod down in section X.

Charles face was wet against Erik’s shoulder as he ran, but the bond was softening from the stress it had been put under. _Thank you…_

“Don’t thank me yet,” Erik snarled, trying to think of the fastest route, even though there really weren’t that many to choose from. “The wound in his knee will slow him down a little, but now that he knows you were the one sabotaging his mission, he won’t need me to repair Cerebro anymore – I’m disposable.”

_You’re not._

Erik gasped, grasping Charles’ back tighter. They had to get to section H before Stryker could lower the corridors’ shields, or else there was no way left to freedom.

_You did the right thing. I’m thankful._

“Argh, you know what?” Erik snapped. “Stay out of my goddamned head, Charles.”

* * *

It’s all so silent. Muted. There are no sounds in space, Charles knows that, and yet he is surprised at the loneliness that overwhelms him as he crawls out of Erik’s mind to honour his request. It’s the least he can do it. It is just… always so silent when he retreats like that and has no one to connect to.

Right now, all he hears is Erik’s laboured breathing and the clanking of his steps on the ship’s metal. He hasn’t liked Charles for trying to stop him from using violence, no, and yet he has seen that this is the wiser route.

While the light of Erik’s arms certainly feels warm and safe, violence is sharp and cold in Charles’ mind, and Erik’s violent thoughts are among the worst he has ever felt in his life. They’re so different than the ones of the Colonel. Like thousand icy daggers.

Even now, when he is looking for an escape route, Erik thinks them, roaring, blusterous, and silent at the same time. Without any naturalising sound. Like a predator looking for the perfect moment to unleash his rage. Like a shark.

Charles tries to relax and relish his light anyway. It’s faint at the moment.

They turn right, and Erik curses under his breath, picking up speed. Charles can see the docking station getting covered by the emergency shield that slowly lowers itself to seal the corridor.

Erik gasps as he hurries, but his large steps aren’t fast enough. With a strong jolt, Charles is yanked forward, totally taken aback by the action as he, quite literally, did not see it coming. His back hurts from the impact, making him hiss in pain. He rolls around on the floor to look back and finds Erik struggling to swing through the closing gap, pulling his legs around as soon as his torso is on Charles’ side of the shield.

And Charles feels his eyes widen. Erik screams as his hand gets crushed by the metal, and he tries to pull it away, but it’s stuck tight.

The waves of pain float Charles’ mind despite the walls he has set up.

Gasping, he crawls forward and puts three fingers onto Erik’s temple. It’s the least he can do now.

_There is no pain._

Like a tsunami, the heat crashes over the walls, the pain getting carried all the way over from Erik’s hand to Charles’ mind in a blinding light. Charles screams out but eventually manages to control the pain and hold it at bay.

Erik groans deeply and pulls his hand away, looking at Charles with soft features, chest heaving up and down. For a short moment, Charles can feel the vines growing in-between them, softly, sweetly. But, although there are no sharp knifes to cut them now, Charles decides to retreat again. He does not want to injure that which has been growing.

Gradually, it has been growing between them, spring-fed by Erik’s light. “Thank you,” Erik breathes in disbelief and picks Charles up again. They are at the dock for the escape pod.

* * *

Adrenaline had been keeping him up for the last twenty-one hours, Erik realised as the escape pod’s date and time start up. Screw all that space training about health, right? He secured Charles’ and his seat with shaking fingers. Blood dripped from his knuckles. Time to get the hell out of here.

Erik would have taken the ship. He would have taken control of the Sunseeker and get her to Oceanus Alpha without any interference from Stryker. Or Charles, for that matter.

Why, in God’s name, did he want Erik to spare his abuser?

Maybe, if they were lucky, Stryker wouldn’t fire on them as they escaped. Maybe he would realise that he might still need Charles, and that he should take the diplomatic approach, even though it seemed far too late for that. Just maybe – he wouldn’t fire. Maybe he wouldn’t even make it to the helm in his condition.

When the escape pod was ejected, Erik’s head was pushed back against the seat so hard that he pressed his eyes shut in pain. They were past Neptune, and the sun was shedding her orange light into the pod.

Erik collected himself, opening up the radar. “The automated distress signal has been sent out,” he said, more to himself than to Charles, who was sitting in his seat with his bare feet bleeding onto the cushion.

Concern charged Erik’s chest. “Are you all right?” he asked, calmly.

They needed a moment or two, but soon the pair of ocean blue eyes met his. “I’m fine, yes. Thank you, Erik.”

“Still too early to thank me, remember?” Erik said with a chuckle that might have given away his relief. He turned to the console to navigate the pod as best as he could.

“ _Still_ too early, hm?” Charles smiled. “Sounds to me like you don’t want my gratitude.”

Erik made an amused sound of faux agreement.

“Well, maybe someday,” Charles smiled, and although Erik could not feel him inside his mind, the words left a sweetness lingering on his tongue. Sparks of warmth assembled in his chest, and he turned to look at Charles. Shining in the light of stars.

“On the contrary, I should be grateful. Thank you for earlier.”

“Goes without saying,” Charles smiled, and Erik softened at the choice of words.

But, yet again, their relative bliss was short-lived: An explosion rattled the pod, shaking Erik’s every bone. The pod tumbled ere stubbornly returning to its course.

“He _is_ firing,” Erik whispered as he switched up the emergency controls. “Son of a bitch.” He tried keeping his head steady to prevent it from shaking, but another explosion made them tumble overhead into the starless dark. Two more hits and the shields would be gone.

Charles reached for Erik’s hand on the piloting seat. Erik took it.

“Why do you fire on us?” Erik called through the emergency channel in a foolish attempt at diplomacy. “Why? Are we worth nothing more to you than some goddamned space whales?”

 _It’s gonna be all right,_ he sent over the missing bond, cursing himself for telling Charles to break it down earlier. He wanted, no, needed to comfort him. “It’s gonna be all right, you hear me? You’re gonna be fine,” he whispered.

That Stryker actually answered the channel made him angrier than he had originally thought. “I’ve found others like Xavier before, Lehnsherr,” he snarled. “And I will find them again. I always find them.”

Eyes burning, Erik could see the next projectile shooting from the Sunseeker on-screen and moved the pod downwards to dodge it. Escape pods this old had limited manoeuvring capabilities, but he wasn’t the worst pilot, he could do it.

They evaded another one. Maybe, if only they could make it to one of the moons, they could take cover –

Another hit.

Erik blinked, trying to focus, and felt Charles’ nails painfully digging into his skin as they tried to hold onto something. Shields were at nine percent.

“Why don’t you tell me how much you despise me, hm, Lehnsherr?” Stryker asked over the fading communication signal. His voice wasn’t laced with the usual relish and amusement. It was pure malice.

“I knew you weren’t to be trusted, right from where you first set foot onto my ship. And now look at the last few minutes of your miserable life. Lining up with that freakshow – at least now I can feel good about killing you.”

Erik frantically tried to look for options. But there were none.

“You can’t flee from _me!_ ” the signal cracked, full of rage, and it prompted Erik to turn and take Charles’ hand, to look him in the eyes. Blue like the lights of the bridge, only purer and almost magical in their stupid spell that had bound Erik from the first time he ever saw them.

“I’m sorry,” he breathed, rubbing a thumb over Charles’ hand. Everything was shaking. The hull would breach soon.

The eyes shined right back at him, and strands of love and acceptance grew inside Erik’s mind as they closed themselves. Warmth growing further, out into space, where they spread in grace.

For a few terrible, agonising seconds, Erik waited for the final blow. He waited so intently that he was almost shocked when it didn’t happen.

Close to indignation for having the acceptance of his death in space being tested in this way, Erik turned to look at the instruments.

The sunseeker was exploding. Stryker’s screams faded in the dying communications channel, drowned under a thick layer of interference ere total silence spread in the escape pod. Gasping, Erik brought it around.

“How?” he asked. “How can it…?”

Having turned the pod, his eyes widened at the view. The whaling ship crashed in red and blue, from the hold right to the bridge, the fire taking everything with it.

Although they were in safe distance, Erik could still feel the explosion’s shock wave rattle the pod, and Charles’ fingers clasped his anew. “It’s them,” he said, eyes filling up with tears.

Now Erik saw them, too. From where the tank section had been, a giant creature emerged from the otherworldly explosion’s fire. Long vines dancing gracefully as the large body heaved itself into freedom.

“The whale,” Erik breathed in disbelief. The presumed dead one, the one the sensors hadn’t been able to register.

“And look,” Charles said, “she’s not alone.”

From behind the fire, two more whales floated around the Sunseeker, or what was left of it by now. The injured one joined them, and their delicate fins glowed.

Pressure building up behind his eyes, Erik felt a smile creep onto his face, and it turned into a full-on grin when he saw the whales practically dancing around the fire, gracefully in-between the stars, where they belonged. _This_ is what they were.

“Yes!” Erik exclaimed and hammered a happy first against the pod’s screen. “Yes!” Not only were the whales free, they took Stryker down in the single most satisfying and ironic way possible. Whether it was intentional or not, they gave him his deserved payback.

As Erik still tried forming coherent words to match his immense gratification, he noticed Charles crying. His tears formed little round bubbles, floating in zero gravity. Erik softened. “What’s wrong?” He laughed. “They’re free. The one we thought was dead is alive!”

“But the Colonel is, too,” Charles pressed out. He sobbed in a deep inhale.

Erik searched his reddened eyes for clues. “Yeah. He goddamn is.” He shifted, smile completely gone by now. “Charles-”

“We could have saved him!”

Erik frowned and tuned his seat so that they sat knee to knee. “Charles. Charles, look at me.” A determined hand on his chin made Charles obey. His face was puffy from crying, lips deep red.

“What right,” Erik said quietly, “did he have to be saved?”

“Everyone has that right,” Charles said in a voice that made Erik immediately retreat his hand. His expression was as clear as ever.

Erik shook his head. Stryker had physically and mentally abused Charles, he had exploited his telepathic abilities for financial gain and some perverse power play, a fetish that he had taken out on Erik more often than not, too. That man was an abomination. Rescuing him would not have been worth the risk. “You can’t save everyone,” Erik said as though he was talking to a child.

Charles turned away.

“You can’t.”

“What’s the point,” Charles interrupted sharply, “if you don’t even try?”

“All right,” Erik snarled, “fine. You’re the good guy here. If that’s what you believe, then keep believing it.” He clenched his jaw. “But we both know it’s a bit holier-than-thou, isn’t it?”

He noticed Charles glancing at him.

“Three live space whales, ones whose combined energy could run a Star Station for _years_. Don’t tell me you didn’t sense them coming.” He shook his head. “You’re not _that_ weak, Charles.”

Charles looked outside.

“Otherwise why would you want to run so badly, hm?”

“Because,” he replied calmly, voice tinted with tears, “your violent outbursts are like knifes in my mind. I did not want that, and I’m sorry if that upsets you.”

“Tell that to yourself,” Erik said and turned to the console. They still had to pick up speed if they wanted to reach Oceanus Alpha anytime soon. “Tell that to yourself,” Erik repeated, quieter, “and then maybe someday you will truly believe that _that_ is why you did it, and not because you wanted to save your own ass.”

Charles answered nothing. All they spoke was Erik informing him mechanically of having engaged the thrusters, and that their E.T.A. to Oceans Alpha was eight hours at best.

His fingers glowed under the pale light. He had taken Charles for an innocent victim, someone who had activated Erik’s protective instincts with his helplessness and charm and damned blue eyes. How strong was his telepathy really? How often could he have manipulated Erik without him even noticing? There was more to him, Erik knew that now. A darker side, or possibly a trench, reaching into the deepest depths of his brain’s precipices.

He had spent less than a day with him. He knew _nothing_ of Charles Xavier.

And still he could not stop himself from calling Charles’ name when the whales came closer. Oh, he was so weak. He searched for Charles’ hand, wanted to hold him and tell him everything would be fine. The aliens girdled the pod, and Erik, in horror, could see every pore around their big eyes.

Whatever their whale song was about, it made Charles scream in agony. His ears were bleeding. Erik stroked his hair and took the pain in, crying, just like Charles had done when the shield had almost crushed Erik’s hand.

* * *

There was more to Earth than people realised, Erik thought as he looked out the window. There was a lush park in front of the hospital, and cute little birds hopped around the tree in front of Charles’ sick-room window.

A slight tingling in Erik’s mind announced Charles waking up. Erik got up from his chair to sit down at the edge of his bed. The mattress bent down softly beneath him, and he hovered over Charles as the sapphire eyes opened up.

The bond pulled, and Erik feared Charles could not only hear his chuckle but also feel it across the strands of telepathy between them. _Morning._

Charles blinked, still dazed. Oh, he looked so cute like that. _Erik_.

 _Yes, I’m here,_ Erik answered. He smiled and took Charles’ hand in his to squeeze it gently.

 _We’re on Earth_ , Charles realised, dizzy. His fatigue was addictive and made Erik feel all snuggly. It was tinted with a bitter drop of fear.

 _Don’t worry,_ Erik said, _the doctors who took care of you don’t know about your abilities, as far as I’m concerned. You’re just another shipwrecked man, along with the engineer who piloted your escape pod to Oceanus Alpha._

 _They bandaged your hand,_ Charles noticed.

 _Yeah, but I’m the lucky one out of us two,_ Erik said and softly ran a thumb over Charles’ hand. Charles shifted to sit upright, but his dark hair was still completely out of place, so he didn’t look all too presentable.

It was a cute look though.

“Hey,” Charles said aloud and squeezed Erik’s hand in playful protest. Erik smiled, and Charles’ features softened into that look that he had given Erik when they had first met in space. It all seemed so far away now.

The bond warmed up with sweetness. _You’re still talking to me this way,_ Charles said.

“Ah, I thought you’d appreciate it,” Erik said and playfully pulled at the strands between them. Charles instantly reached out to him again, and they met in a tingling touch. It was almost like kissing. For having found it so awkward at first, Erik was finally seeing the appeal of telepathic communication. It had its benefits.

As did hospital clothes, when they exposed exquisite collar bones like these.

Charles’ mouth fell open at the obscene images that Erik’s mind generated without bothering to hold them back. He looked as though he still hadn’t decided if he wanted to be scandalised or turned on. Or both.

 _Both?_ Erik asked with a smirk.

“Oh, you…” Charles sighed, pulling away the strands slightly, but Erik followed the movement. Physically this time. He caught Charles’ puffy lips in a kiss that was just a little too greedy. He could feel Charles’ sharp intake of air before his lips parted gratefully, and Erik needed no second invitation.

Their bond’s sweetness surrounded them. It was undeniably hot to not only feel Charles’ soft mouth and taste him like this, no, Erik could taste the soft sweetness in his mind, and it mingled with little spicy drops of heat that arose from their kissing.

Amused, Charles signalled Erik that a nurse was about to step inside the room, so they broke apart and just looked at each other with knowing smiles while she inspected Charles’ condition. He would be able to leave in a few days, she said.

Once she had left, the room was silent again, except for the birds’ singing from outside. The sky was crystal clear today, perfect for a stroll in the park. Erik glanced at the ground and its grey circle patterns. His feelings for Charles were complicated to say the least, but his selfishness was bigger than his rationale. He could not help it.

“They brought us just inside the Station’s sensor range,” Erik said somewhen. His look toward Charles was worried.

Charles shifted, features hardening ever so slightly. “They recognised me, you know. But they didn’t know how much their language hurt me when I wasn’t being supported by Cerebro.”

“I’m just glad they let you travel in one piece,” Erik said truthfully. _No one saw them. No one even asked me about the whaling. And the Sunseeker’s completely wrecked, they won’t find any traces of them there either._

The bond tensed a bit, but Charles still smiled. “That’s good,” he said. He turned his head to look out the window, and his hand laid so perfect on the white blanket that Erik reached out to intertwine their fingers gently.

“I want to advocate for them,” Charles said. “Someday the general public will find out about them and their energy, possibly informed by some of the shady people who had been in contact with the Colonel.”

“People will ask questions,” Erik feared.

“But not only about us and how we escaped,” Charles said. “About _them_ as well. They will need someone who will speak up for them.”

 _And who will speak up for you?_ Erik asked, applying gentle pressure to Charles’ hand. _If Stryker knew about you and people like that Jean Grey, then there are surely more people who know. They’ll find you, Charles. You heard him._

 _In time, I’ll fight that battle,_ Charles said. “But right now, the aliens need my help. I’ll campaign for them if necessary.”

“Then you’ll have my help, too,” Erik said. _I’ll make sure people like you won’t get hurt in the process._ He paused, and the bond tensed. _Whatever the cost._

“Hey,” Charles said and gave him a soft look. “Let’s try helping as many people as we can, okay? There are so, _so_ many who need help.”

Erik blinked. “Yes. Of course,” he said quietly, squeezing Charles’ hand. The strands between them stressed further, and for a moment, he thought that the bed frame was vibrating. Rattling even.

The bond loosened, and Erik felt another, colder rush in his mind. _What is it?_ Charles asked.

“Nothing,” Erik replied. His eyes stayed fixated on the metal.

**Author's Note:**

> I’m so happy to give this to you all! I never finish anything angsty lol, but I really wanted to finish this one :> Thank you to Steph for the gorgeous watercolor artwork! Please share it [on tumblr](https://insertmeaningfulusername.tumblr.com/post/629424802637168640) so everyone can see it! Thank you so much for reading ♡


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